For the third FASHION DIALOGUE, Matteo Augello will be joined by Ilaria Martello, Senior Costume Production Manager at the Royal Ballet and Opera in London. During this event, the audience will be taken backstage at one of the world’s leading institutions of performing arts, discovering the long journey costumes make before they get to the stage.
Since joining the Royal Ballet and Opera in 2003, Ilaria Martello has worked on countless productions, playing a pivotal role in transforming the visions of costume designers, choreographers and directors into reality. Amongst her credits as costume production manager are the ballets Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (2011) by Christopher Wheeldon with designs by Bob Crowley, Woolf Works (2015) by Sir Wayne McGregor designed by Moritz Junge and The Dante Project (2021) by Sir Wayne McGregor with designs by Tacita Dean. Her costume design credits include Deepstaria (2024) by Sir Wayne McGregor as well as Optional Family (2021) by Kyle Abraham, and Noumena (2017) by Alexander Whitley.
Martello is a well-versed costume specialist and is currently doing a PhD at London College of Fashion where she investigates the relationship between humans and non-human entities in the creative process of developing ballet costume. She also works extensively with dancers as a mentor and regularly collaborates with the artist Carolina Mazzolari, with whom she created the piece Alone, Together alongside Royal Ballet dancer and choreographer Kristen McNally, which was presented during the Venice Biennale in 2023.
The event will take place on Wednesday 25th September at 6.30pm and will last approximately one hour, followed by Q&A. It will be conducted in English.
Book HERE
Matteo Augello is a fashion historian and lecturer based in London. From 2013 to 2017, he was a curatorial consultant to the V&A Museum in London for the exhibition Opera: Passion, Power, Politics. He regularly holds masterclasses on costume at the NABA Academy in Milan and has collaborated with Royal Opera House in London, Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo and American Ballet Theatre in New York. His first book, Curating Italian Fashion: Heritage, Industry, Institutions, was published by Bloomsbury in 2022.
Cover image: The Royal Ballet principal Calvin Richardson in the ballet The Dante Project by Sir Wayne McGregor (photo by Andrej Uspenski).